Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Preview – Hands-On Impressions Of The Brawler’s First Two Levels

If you fancy yourself an old-school TMNT fan, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is likely one of your most anticipated games. It takes the best of old-school brawlers such as Turtles in Time to make a new adventure. I should know because I played a demo of Shredder’s Revenge and walked away even more excited for the full release.

The demo let me battle the Foot Clan across the game’s first two levels: the Channel 6 news station and the streets of New York City. I’m now intimately familiar with these stages, given that I completed the demo six times as each of the playable characters. That’s Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michaelangelo, April O’Neal, and Master Splinter. The game allows for four-player coop. I was solo and the impressions are a result. 

First and foremost, Shredder’s Revenge looks and sounds great. The 16-bit graphics are bright, crisp, and accurate to the era it’s drawing upon. The Channel 6 Stage was a great level design experience. I loved battles through all the TV sets. Composer Tee Lopes’ retro-inspired soundtrack rocks, with the track for the New York level becoming a particularly hum-worthy earworm. 

Shredder’s Revenge plays as good as it looks thanks to its smooth and responsive combat that sports a bit more depth than simply mashing buttons. Rushing enemies, flip dodging through incoming offense, and executing rising attacks to air-juggle foes long after they’ve perished hits the right nostalgia notes. It maintains a fast-paced pace, and has a rapid recovery roll to quickly get downed opponents back in the game. Yes, you still largely slam the same attack button at anything that strolls on screen, but Shredder’s Revenge feels like a very polished and entertaining “one of those.” 

Breaking heads creates a special meter which can unleash devastating attacks like Michelangelo’s barrage of nunchuck strikes. Using special attacks while airborne sends characters hurtling towards the ground to clear mobs like a living meteor. Grapple moves allow you to execute the classic “toss bad guy toward the screen” move or have baddies play the Loki to your Hulk by slamming them repeatedly.

You can use the environment as an instrument of attack. Striking the cameras at Channel 6 sends them hurtling into oncoming targets. The city’s fire hydrants can be blasted with a projectile. Enemies may also slip into the water pool. Classic power-ups include health-restoring pizza, POW pizzas that trigger special attacks letting you barrel through scores of foes, and pies that briefly grant an infinite special meter.  Every level concluded with one-on-1 battles against Rocksteady and Bebop. They aren’t the toughest foes to defeat, but seeing them blink red to signify impending defeat, a classic arcade touch, always put a smile on my face. 

Each character has its own unique traits, which made it fun to use. The differences are subtle but noticeable, and no one character feels objectively better than another. Raph and Splinter are the best hitters if you’re looking for maximum damage. Do you favor speed? April and Mikey move the most quickly and are known for their speed. Donny’s staff gives him the longest reach, but he’s also the slowest. Leo’s stats are balanced all-around, making him the perfect middle-of-the-road option. 

Donatello was always my favourite Turtle. His staff’s invaluable support conditioned me in video games to take Donatello before any other Turtle. Playing with Raphael, a shorter-range attackr, was more enjoyable than I thought. In fact, each fighter is so entertaining that I wouldn’t feel salty about picking someone else if someone called dibs on Don before me. They’ll still get a side-eye, but a tantrum will no longer be necessary.  

Although Shredder’s Revenge feels like an excellent modern throwback, it’s still a beat ’em up through and through. It also has legacy problems like the occasional whiffing shot at enemies occupying lower/higher levels than you. This game isn’t designed to revolutionize the genre but rather to remind you of the glory days of TMNT games. So far, it appears to be doing a superb job of that, and I can’t wait to rescue the Big Apple alongside a full squad upon release. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge launches this summer for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.